THE CONDOR Vol. XIV ?)ther was constructed in the same manner, but was quite well lined with weed stems, so that the eggs did not touch the ground. There was no evident attempt at concefilment, the nests all being placed in small open spaces from six inches to a foot in diameter, and with nothing to-protect them'; but the color of the eggs was sufficient protection to make them quite inconspicuous. The birds continually showed signs of uneasiness, staying usually at the edge of the water and occasionally flying over us with their loud, ringing cry. Sometimes they would affect a broken wing, but the effort was rather awkward and the deception was very apparent. They acted much as a Killdeer dnes and while quite demonstrative, did not betray the whereabouts of the nests by their actions, only that they flushed from them directly, instead of running along the Fig. 51. NEST AND EGGS OF AVOCET ground before taking wing. When not flying about overhead the birds often lit on the water where they swam easily and lightly, and they seemed at all times very anxious to get back to the nests, returning as soon as we were a short dis- tance from the nests. Upon our return to the island on June 21, we found that the nests had been disturbed; two of them were deserted and about half of the eggs were missing. On July 28 we found to our sorrow that all the nests had been destroyed; at least so We surmised as we did not find any young birds. On May 31, 1908, we visited the island again and found to our surprise that the colony was nesting fully five weeks earlier than in the preceding spring. On this date we found eight nests: seven on the island proper and one on the sand-
